Mennonite Library and Archives

Deutsch-Kazun church record books

Deutsch-Kazun article in Mennonite Encyclopedia

For German article from Mennonitisches Lexikon see below.

Sometime we need to add here a more detailed description of what all is in the digitized material. One part of it is scanned from a microfilm at the MLA, but there are also several other items.

Here is some additional information about the baptismal records for Deutsch-Kazun 1834-1943.

Here is some additional information about the civil records for the Deutsch-Kazun congregation.

If you notice any unreadable pages or bad links, please let us know and we can rescan.

Here's an interesting note about Deutsch-Kazun records provided by Glenn Penner in 2016:

Dt. Kazun. From the Memoirs of Leonhard Ewert. From the collection of the late Arnold Schroeder (material now at MHC Winnipeg) and likely translated by Arnold Schroeder:

From the beginning the Mennonites were required to register (report) all births and deaths to the (bishop) priest of the nearest Roman Catholic church. Marriage registrations were of lesser concern. Besides the registrations with the Roman Catholic Church all births, deaths marriages and baptisms were recorded by elected officials within the congregation. Not until 1812, long after the partitioning of Poland, did the Russian government reorganize the Mennonite registry procedure. From that time on the Mennonites have managed their own church books in duplicates. One church book with all the entries remained with elected registrar in the congregation and the other was handed over to the civil registrar in Warsaw. It should be noted that during the first decades the entries in the church books are much lacking many births and deaths records are missing as are also the marriage registrations until 1812. As mentioned, the marriage registrations of Mennonites were of no concern to the Roman Catholic Church and with the births and deaths registrations the Mennonites took a lot of time as they were unwilling to go to the Catholic priest. As a result not all entries were made. In the death registration from now on [since 1812?] the cause of death had to be given. These entries were to serve as future reference: also that a widowed person did not enter a new marriage within 9 [4?] months, also to determine that minor children whose parents died were provided for. Some entries in the baptism register could be understood by Mennonites only. E.g. there was baptized Jette, the daughter of Knels Kliewer and Jette born Ediger or Gert Bartel and Lieske Koppert their son Behrend (Bernhard). From 1832 to 1864 the church books were kept by Heinrich Nickel from Dt. Czastkow[sp]. Then it happened one day in summer that many Gypsies were camped in Dt. Czastkow [sp] on the sand near the cemetery. It was harvest time, after the noon hour, the whole family of H. Nickel went again to the wheat harvest on the highland behind the fortress highway. No sooner had they left the yard when several Gypsies came and wanted to tell fortunes and carry out other skills and naturally be rewarded for it. The impatient farmer Nickel told them he didn't have the time to go back to the house and they should come in the evening, and left for work with his family. The Gypsies were disgruntled and muttered among themselves something that could be interpreted as follows "we get nothing, you also should get nothing." No sooner had they begun cutting, binding and gathering for in the wheat field when a thick black cloud of smoke arose from their house. They all ran home however nearly everything was lost in the fire including all church books from 1812 to 1864.

From 1864 to 1898 the church books were looked after by Rev. Heinrich Bartel from Dt. Czastkow. After his death they were taken over by Timotheus Schroeder until 1906 when he moved with his family to Germany. After that Rudolf Bartel took over the management of the church books from 1906 until his tragic end in 1939. On Sept 22, 1939 a bomb exploded in the garden between the houses. As a result the house caught on fire and burned to the ground. The force of the explosion severely damaged the church books and some were destroyed in the fire.